The month was late November 2012. I was in 2nd yr., pursuing MCA from SRM University (Kattankultahur campus, Chennai). I used to stay in a rented room in what they call "Back Gate". Before exams, it was normal for students to gather around road side tea shops in early morning. The place is called Potheri. It is a small area that is attached to the university. Eighty percent of the people living in Potheri are university students only. The rest are either shop owners or house owners. Potheri has a minimalistic railway station too, that connects to the sub-urban train line from Chennai Park station to Kattankultahur station.

In normal days, Potheri is crowded with t-shirt and half pant clad guys and beautiful girls. But during vacations (for 1 whole month), all students used to go to their native and as a result, most of the shops remained closed. It was not less than a burial ground during December and June. By November end, our semester exams would finish and Potheri would become vacant.

Now, the following incident took place at around 2 - 3 AM in the early morning in Potheri.

Usually I went to the tea shop with my friends but that day I had to go alone. I even thought of skipping it but since I needed a ciggy, I took my purse, mobile and wore my watch and started towards the tea shop. It took me 6 minutes to reach the tea shop on the main road (2nd Street Bus Stand). But unlike other days, I did feel something uncomfortable along my way, near an old non functioning shop. It was something depressing and low. I never went to that shop and never gave a thought about it either. I simply ignored it and went.

After having my coffee and ciggy I started back to my room. Amazingly enough, that day no one was on the street. It was like I was the only one in Potheri. I was not scared but was feeling little worried. Not because of the ghost or spirits but because of burglars and robbers.

Anyway, I simply started towards my room. After 1 - 2 minutes walk, the road was fully detached from the main road. Psychedelic street lights, cold wind was blowing, nothing was unusual. But I was feeling uncomfortable. I kept walking. After 1 minute of more walking, suddenly out of nowhere the street light very next to me started flickering in a odd manner. But all other lights were still on. I paused, took a deep breadth and resumed walking. Suddenly I heard a sound like someone hit the metal plate of the street light with a stone.

It took the crap out of me. I did not turn back. I immediately strafed to my extreme left side near an old non-functioning shop. Earlier, I never came near that old shop but that day I had no choice. I kept quiet and waited for some time. Then I slowly turned my head back and it was a huge dark gaseous form near the oddly flickering street light. Everything around me was feeling extremely dizzy and I could not differentiate which was fantasy, and which was reality. I could not move from that place even though I wanted to run. It was like the dark entity was trying to reach me. It had no eyes, no shape for that matter. I definitely knew I was going to die that moment. I could not scream even if I wanted to. I was losing myself. My ability to reason myself was long gone. Street dogs were screaming loud. At last, I hit my head back to the shutter of the shop very hard. Suddenly everything became dark and... I don't remember a thing afterwards what happened.

Next day I woke up in my bed. I was panting just after waking up. I checked myself and ultimately convinced myself that everything was a dream. However, my watch was missing. I decided to search it later. I took a bath. And, as soon as I touched my head, I felt that I got hurt on my head recently. It was like the whole dream flashed in front of me. I immediately ran to the same place last I remembered. It was day time so few people were on the road. Everything seemed normal. But I couldn't understand how I got hurt on my skull. If everything was not a dream, who took me back to my room?

I just calmed myself down and thought maybe I am watching too many ghost stories. As soon as I started walking back towards my room, I saw my watch... Resting on the ground, near the old-non functioning shop.